November 8, 2011

"As [Sharon Bialek] got to the microphone, my first thought was, 'I don't even know who this woman is,' " said Cain. He said he could not remember Bialek from the National Restaurant Association, where he was president and CEO from 1996 to 1999, and "where she said she worked."

Asked about Karen Kraushaar, an accuser whose name was made public Tuesday, Cain called her allegations baseless. "To the best of my recollection that is the one that I recall that filed a complaint, but it was found to be baseless." He said he doesn't remember any of her accusations, except for making a gesture that she was the same height as his wife.

Cain said there was a "machine" trying to keep a businessman out of the White House, and said Sharon Bialek was a "troubled woman" put forward by "the Democrat machine."

"As far as these accusations causing me to back off and maybe withdraw from this primary race, ain't gonna happen, because I am doing this for the American people and for the children and the grandchildren."

Ed -- Democrats have nothing to do with this. This was done by Republicans.

Obama would love to run against Cain. He may be wrong, but you can be sure that he feels that way.

Also, this is the first time in human history that I have witnessed anyone ascribe these sort of supernatural political powers usually reserved for Republican political consultants such as Karl Rove. So, real cool, man. Now I can't make fun of leftists for being the only people shallow enough to make these silly reverse cargo cult arguments.

I don't want a president who has "never acted inappropriately with anyone." Bialek's story made me like Cain even more: he's loose enough to get fresh with a blonde, but urbane enough to accept no as an answer. What a well-rounded individual.

Ed -- Jesus Christ, dude. I live in Chicago. What are you talking about?

This is an opposition research hit by another Republican candidate facilitated by an eager drive-by leftist media. That's all it is.

The same thing would have happened to John Edwards if he was a Republican. Or Ted Kennedy. Or Barney Frank. Or a dozen others. The same thing did happen to Bill Clinton. How do you think all that dirty laundry about him got out in the primaries? Happenstance? Was it somebody in Chicago?

I want to believe Cain, and he was pretty convincing today. But Hugh Hewitt was interviewing PJMedia's Roger Simon who says he knows the third woman, and that he knows and believes her story, and that it's not trivial. I'm glad I don't have to make up my mind until June fifth.

A witness saw Cain and Bialek together only a few weeks ago. And he says now that he does not remember her at all?

What is most disturbing of all of this is Cain's immediate impulse is to use the Clinton playbook of deny and obfuscate and attack and trash. We even have the vast left-wing conspiracy here. All we needed was to have Caine pull out the steel balls in his hand.

And we even have the spectacle of his supporters giving Bialek the Paula Jones and Joe the Plumber treatments -- feigning to know nothing about her, yet able to dig up trash to throw at her within hours.

Where does Bialek work? Is the Wiki page up and running yet so we can vet her side of the story? The whole thing reminds me of Tawana Brawley. It's definitely going to be a movie of the week. Fast and Furious, Part IV.

Saul Alinsky's fourth rule of power tactics reads, ""Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."

I think that's what the left is trying to do with Herman Cain. The left thinks that people on the center and right are uptight prudes who will attack any politician whose conduct isn't scrupulously moral and proper. (Contrast this with Democrats, who find that corruption and moral failings make a candidate more appealing.)

But in this era, in this election cycle, it won't work. A generation of statist Democrat and RINO politicians have seriously fucked up the country. If Cain is seen as the candidate that represents a clean break from the past, then sexual harassment allegations won't matter a bit. In fact, it could evoke a good deal of pent-up anger against Democrats for trying to destroy a fundamentally good candidate with irrelevant and unproveable charges.

Coketown said...I don't want a president who has "never acted inappropriately with anyone." Bialek's story made me like Cain even more: he's loose enough to get fresh with a blonde, but urbane enough to accept no as an answer. What a well-rounded individual==============Amazing how committed feminists excused Clinton!!!Amazing how "deep-believer Movement Conservatives" excuse Cain. Married black man, chasing down white pussy (catnip for black men).

"Kraushaar works for the Administration and, from her resume, looks like a Democrat foot soldier."

Also, back in 1999, she was in possession of a device which, utilizing faster than light neutrinos, enabled her to receive a message sent from our time by Axelrod, instructing her to file a sex harassment complaint against Cain, more than a decade before he became a presidential candidate.

I've never seen Althouse delete a comment without making a bit to-do about it, since free speech is something she is fervent about. Was your comment some kind of cause for a libel suit? Even then, I'd think she'd use it as a teachable moment, as the teachers say.

Everybody here seems to be the victim of or bitching about a conspiracy tonight. Cain is the victim of a giant conspiracy by Obama to bring him down. Scott is the victim of a secret conspiracy by Althouse to secretly delete his comments. And we know that C-Fudd is the victim of hundreds of conspiracies by clever Jews.

Anybody else? Titus -- are you the victim of some cocksucking conspiracy?

Allie said...Kraushaar's attorney is setting up a joint press conference with all 4 women present, can't wait.'Blonde Bimbo Eruption' federal drone hired in PR [worked at various gov't agencies] by Clinton. The latest--her son works for Politico. What is it with Washington insiders? Their only true sexual fetish is incest. I'm waiting for the gay guy who met him at a 'glory hole' in Washington or Chicago. The only sure physical description of him is that he is 'blonde'.

Allie -- The most fascinating thing is that there certainly is a conspiracy here. It's between some Republican candidate's opposition research guy and some reporter at Politico. Things took on a life of their own beyond any agreement long ago.

But Ed won't admit that. He can't admit that politics is politics. So -- like what we usually see among leftists these days -- he ascribes actions to some mysterious cabal by powerful, secret, unnamed agents.

I'm pretty sure that most sexual encounters I've had involved some level of inappropriate behavior. At the time, it all seems very appropriate, but later? Well that's just not fair. You had to be there.

It's interesting to watch what Romney is doing. He already has enough name recognition, right now he wants no attention whatsoever. He wants all the attention on Cain and Perry. He knows the press is hostile, so why pop up your head for nothing. Stay low, let the cannon fodder take the heat. It's smart, but not impressive, nor courageous. It's 100% Romney.

Scott -- I guess brief summaries of posts deleted by Althouse are okay, right? Was it lurid details about teaching kids to mediate? Was Jerry Sandusky involved?

I think you are thinking a bit too much of yourself here. A few threads back, I went ballistic on a guy showing him how he was not the peace-loving guy he thought he was, but really a closet fascist who wants to subvert representative democracy with a leftist agenda no one supports. Motherfuck this. Cocksucking that.

You people who are arguing about conspiracy are assuming that what's happening now was somehow planned. It wasn't. In opposition research, you plant the story. You hope it gets legs and hope for the best.

Whoever planted this story -- it worked out beyond their wildest dreams. But they aren't pulling strings. And it could still backfire tremendously. I don't think it will. But it could.

Of course there is the 'exception' that proves the rule--nurse Cratchit types obsessed with daily bowel movements--Titus would understand. Had a lot of fun with one in a 'serious discussion' of my big 'Kahuna'--at the end the other 5 nurse burst out laughing and I ended up--on her 'shit list'.

That might have been me, I know all that stuff about you, but I don't think you did me. One time, I think I gestured that you were about the same height as my German Shepard, but there was nothing inappropriate.

7M: I'm not making a big thing about it. Blogs are literary junk food, and I can have a happy and full life without posting here. I have better quality time interacting with my golden retriever.

On one level, I find the silent deleting of posts petulent and irritating and dishonest. On another, commenting here can be like a "white box' behavioral science experiment, but I have to be in the right mood for it.

Allie -- The most fascinating thing is that there certainly is a conspiracy here. It's between some Republican candidate's opposition research guy and some reporter at Politico. Things took on a life of their own beyond any agreement long ago.

But Ed won't admit that. He can't admit that politics is politics. So -- like what we usually see among leftists these days -- he ascribes actions to some mysterious cabal by powerful, secret, unnamed agents.

And we still await Seven's documentation of this other than his own say-so and a couple of Libertarian pundits' tea leaves. As I say, sophistry for its own sake becomes a bore.

OTOH, the single-celled intelligence can't seem to grasp that Seven espouses a conspiracy theory also, just one she likes better.

All I'm doing is going by track record. I could be wrong, but the record says I'm not.

Ed -- Obama and his political consultants have no reason to bring down the candidacy of a minor Republican candidate who has never, ever won a political office in his life, or even a primary.

It is, of course, foolish to argue with conspiracy theorists. They can never be convinced by reason. That's the beauty of the conspiracy theory. It is impervious to reason.

Suffice it to say, you are wrong and foolish and naive. It's sad, really, that you think that a routine dredging up of allegations of affairs in a primary -- which happens as predictably as the seasons -- is the handiwork of some political mastermind from another party entirely.

"Obama and his political consultants have no reason to bring down the candidacy of a minor Republican candidate who has never, ever won a political office in his life, or even a primary."

In other words, you believe that Cain is unelectable. Just say it.

Trouble is, Obama is a weak president. And Cain, in most polls, prior to the generation of this sex scandal, was the front runner.

There are also a number of scandals that the president certainly wants to steer attention away from. Even if Cain wasn't electable, he could be used for that. "Never waste a good crisis." And if there is no crisis, create one.

So, Scott, your one post disappeared, and then a post about how that post -- which I saw -- disappeared. But all these other posts remain. What dastardly reasons explain that? Is it just irrational behavior on Althouse's part? Or is it maybe some other irrational thing?

Amy Jacobson (the witness to the Bialek/Cain hug): Former television reporter Amy Jacobson is fighting back against the station that disgraced her. Jacobson was dismissed in July of 2007 from Chicago station WMAQ-Ch. 5 after CBS station and ratings rival WBBM aired provocative footage of Jacobson in an inappropriate situation. In the midst of of the search for Lisa Stebic, who has been missing since April, 2007, Jacobson was filmed relaxing in a swimsuit at the home of Stebic's husband...

The Sun Times story linked to above that says "Picture with Herman Cain" only has a photo of Cain with Jacobson and two other people. No picture of Bialek.

Bill Kurtis (WBBM News, CBS, and other TV work) spoke about Bialek on the Roe Conn Show on WLS Radio today. He said Bialek used to work for CBS and she has a history. He said there's a lot more to the story.

7M: You're making a bigger thing of it than I am. I'm merely noting what I observed. And in any case, Ann, being a proud person of high integrity, would surely respond if my speculations were without factual basis.

Scott -- Is this your first election? Are you aware that allegations of sexual indiscretion happen in every single election cycle, everywhere in the United States and the world, at every level of government?

Further, one thing that I let pass earlier was Ed's ridiculous assertion that Obama wants to run unopposed. Is this how you people think? Do you think that Obama is going to nefariously bring down every Republican candidate and that he will face no other candidates? Child, please.

Also, yes, I do think that Cain is unelectable. I base this on the well-founded observation that Cain has never, ever, ever been elected to, or even nominated for, an office in which the outcome is based on a popular vote. Not once. This adds substantial weight to my well-reasoned position that Obama and his political consultants don't give a flying fuck about Cain and, in fact, would love to face him in the general election.

But you Republicans looking for the ghost train: keep dancing. Keep dancing and waiting for that grossly inexperienced person to come out of nowhere and sweep people off their feet and bring about hope and change and improvement. After all, it worked fabulously for the Democrats. Except for the hope and change and improvement part.

Scott -- Before your post no doubt gets removed for its silliness, let me say that I went round and round about these people before. Military leaders have been political leaders since before democracy was a twinkle in some philosopher king's eye. It will always be that way.

Herbert Hoover was in a presidential cabinet (and a technocrat and a massive, miserable failure).

Taft had been a judge, a governor-general in a fiefdom, and solicitor general).

Madison was a member of the House, secretary of state, and the author of the Bill of Rights.

Cain is a minor nobody who has been involved in one of the several Federal Reserve Banks.

I add here that I have said before and will now say again that Herman Cain might well be a great statesman. But like Sarah Palin, like Barrack Obama, like that goofball Ross Perot -- he needs to hone his craft at lower levels.

Aw, 7M, you have to admit that, since you are so intimately familiar with the experience Cain would bring to the office, he is far more qualified now than Obama was when he was candidate. It's obvious. The only big thing Obama ever ran before running for the presidency was his mouth -- and he couldn't even do that without a telepromter.

I remember when the Republicans nominated Ginsburg for the Supreme Court, and then we yanked him because he smoked pot back in the day.

So we replaced him with Kennedy, who had a boring, spotless record, and he went on to prove himself as a vacuous black hole of jurisprudence who killed some babies because he didn't know what a D&E was.

But at least we kept the potsmoker off the Court. Zero tolerance wins again!

P.S.: How is Cain more credible than all the other Republican candidates? How is he more credible than Romney or Perry, for example? What credibility does he bring that Joe Average Voter in Zanesville, Ohio is going to swoon for?

If Obama faces Cain, it will be one more instance of Obama facing a crappy candidate.

If Obama faces Cain, it will be one more instance of Obama facing a crappy candidate.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ... as opposite to Obama, the crappiest candidate ever, but with the media on his side. Obama does not even need to campaign, other than for giving the media opportunity for campaign reporting revenues.

as opposite to Obama, the crappiest candidate ever, but with the media on his side

It is true that Obama helped compel several Democratic candidates somewhat nefariously when they ran against him. It's also true that the decent Republican who would have run against him in Illinois had his very dirty laundry aired at an inopportune time.

That's where your cute little story ends. There was no Republican who was going to beat any Democrat in 2008. That's just how it was going to be. A good analogy is 2000, when we had a roaring economy and 9/11 hadn't happened. The best Al Gore could do was tie George W. Bush, not exactly any world beater. People want change sometimes. Obama capitalized on that to beat Clinton and sail to the presidency.

Moreover, if Obama is so crappy, why put up another even crappier candidate against him? It makes no sense.

I have zero interest in Cain. He's too old. I'm generally not agist when it comes to candidates for executive positions, but he's blathering on like what worked in the 20th Century will work now... and it absolutely will not.

It reminds me of Bush 1 and Clinton. I liked Bush 1, but his era was coming to a close and it was time for the nextgen to step up. Nothing could change that.

Which means what to you? Did you just graduate from leftard school 101, where you majored in Dull Irony? God, you aren't even that bright. No wonder you insulated yourself with other unionistas. It must have been very safe and secure knowing that you ran with each other in great numbers and defying the odds your stupidity has been hidden for this long.

I don't believe there is one, but there is eyewitness proof that she was there talking to Cain. Whether Cain knew her or not might explain why he says he's never seen her before until she was with that tool of the legal left, Alred.

Isn't the most likely scenario that Cain is a charismatic man who frequently hits on women?

You people sound for all the world like leftists defending John Edwards during that whole saga. Why twist and contort yourselves? Do you really believe that some five women are being paid to destroy Cain? Wouldn't that be a very hard thing to keep under wraps -- not to mention highly illegal?

Will Cain file libel and slander suits? Only Harvard Law grad Alger Hiss was stupid enough to file a libel and slander suit when he was guilty. Cain went to Morehouse and Purdue. He is math guy. He's nowhere near that stupid.

It's not the double breasted suits. It's the wide brimmed, black leather hat. Faithful husbands do not wear such hats. Herman has an eye for the ladies....I don't think he's necessarily a predator or a sleaze, but definitely he's aware of the opposite sex. Sometimes smoke indicates the presence of a smoke making machine, but in this case I'm inclined to believe there's fire.....Has anyone considered the possibility that he bribed Bialek to go to Allred with a story that he can easily refute later. Now that's a conspiracy.....Then there's the dogs that didn't bark. Jesse Jackson ran for President two times. He was a flaming philanderer. Why do you think that his amours were never reported? How much coverage would a woman like Bialek have been granted?.....I read the Norris biography of Teddy Roosevelt and the McCullough bio of Truman. Both men were almost certainly vigins on their wedding nights and never cheated on their wives during the course of their marriages.....You can say it's just sex, but I have more trust in such men than leaders who rape the maid.

Saying "I have never done anything inappropriate" is a non-denial denial designed to give Cain room to walk back his denials later when pictures appear (and they will). Saying (now) that he doesn't remember this woman allows him to later remember her without having to take anything back or be accused of having lied.

It does look bad that there is more than one woman accusing him of misconduct. However, the one who made her details known looks designed to make a black man look bad in the eyes of black women voters. (And it wasn't workplace sexual harassment, but a sexual pass.) The others are still vague insinuations. I'll have to know who the other accusers are, who they work for, and what they allege he did to condemn him or withdraw my support completely.

Here's why. In Ohio during the last election, there was a hotly contested Congressional seat between a newcomer conservative and an incumbent Democrat. The conservative was gaining in the polls when he was suddenly slapped with a sexual harassment suit by a woman who volunteered for his campaign and who was allegedly a conservative. It sunk his campaign and the incumbent Democrat won. When it came time for the case to go to court, the woman dropped her charges. He never got to face his accuser. It has remained a "he said/she said" affair which sunk the political career of the conservative.

They had a picture taken together only a few weeks ago -- AND CAIN STILL DENIES REMEMBERING HER or knowing who she is.

In fairness to Cain, politicians take pictures with everyone. I have a picture with President Bush and if you went and asked him about me, even a few weeks later, he would probably DENY REMEMBERING ME!

Hey conspiracy nutjobs, ask this question: How could anyone go back in time, knowing that Cain would one day run for President, get a woman to file a sexual harassment complaint against Cain and then actually win a settlement?

Really? This is what you think?

Someone at the association tipped a reporter to the settlements...that's all. The behavior that prompted the settlements is pure Cain...

A woman who settled a sexual harassment complaint against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain in 1999 complained three years later at her next job about unfair treatment.

Karen Kraushaar, 55, filed the complaint while working as a spokeswoman at the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Justice Department in late 2002 or early 2003, with the assistance of her lawyer, Joel Bennett, who also handled her earlier sexual harassment complaint against Cain in 1999. Three former supervisors familiar with Kraushaar's complaint, which did not include a claim of sexual harassment, described it for the AP under condition of anonymity because the matter was handled internally by the agency and was not public.

To settle the complaint at the immigration service, Kraushaar initially demanded thousands of dollars in payment, a reinstatement of leave she used after the accident earlier in 2002, promotion on the federal pay scale and a one-year fellowship to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, according to a former supervisor familiar with the complaint. The promotion itself would have increased her annual salary between $12,000 and $16,000, according to salary tables in 2002 from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Hey conspiracy nutjobs, ask this question: How could anyone go back in time, knowing that Cain would one day run for President, get a woman to file a sexual harassment complaint against Cain and then actually win a settlement?

I have no idea whether the allegations being made by this or any other woman against Cain are truthful or not but I have had the misfortune of dealing with people on the job and at school who have filed charges against others knowing that it would make the other person’s life difficult having to defend it. In law school for example, I had a classmate who was (falsely) accused by another student of “misconduct” in student government with the intention of forcing the other student to change their vote or else having to disclose on their bar application that they were charged with “misconduct” and having to explain the basis of the charge. So no, I don’t think it takes being a conspiracy theorist to believe that someone can be so petty and vindictive (not saying that this is case here) to do things just to make another person’s life more miserable and to bring it up again years later when they’re in the public eye in order to hurt them again.

As far as winning a settlement, I used to work in products liability litigation and one of my early lessons was that organizations (particularly those that carry any sort of liability insurance) usually have a dollar amount where they will settle a claim because it’s cheaper than going to court regardless of whether they’re right on the merits. Most companies and other organizations care more at the end of the day about minimizing risk than they do about standing on principal so giving someone a payoff to avoid the embarrassment of having to defend charges that can neither be proven nor disproven seems par for the course.

Thorley, the point I am trying to make isn't about the merits of the claims (I have no idea if they are true), but how could they have been documented more than a decade ago to cause political harm now?

As for the law student in your post, that is ridiculous. A made-up charge of misconduct to force a vote change? I think we both would vigorously defend ourselves from such a charge and it would not be that difficult to explain to a state bar. Are you saying this person, in order to avoid having to explain a fictitious charge to a state bar, rolled over because someone might file a made-up misconduct claim with the student government? Is this person a lawyer now, because please supply his/her name so I may avoid using them to defend me against anything.

As for settling, it is much different to settle a products liability claim than one for on the job sexual harassment. Different ballpark.

It isn't just the picture, or the lack of a picture. A witness saw Cain with Bialek only a few weeks ago. The witness saw Bialek pull Cain in close to her and give some rather forceful words close in his ear. After that, Bialek was seen stomping off.

And Cain insists that he does not remember her. The witness says that she did not hear what Bialek said to Cain, but it is a fair assumption that she discussed this matter. And Cain insists that he does not remember her.

By far, the number one piece of evidence against Cain in these affairs is the response of Cain (and his supporters) to them. The response to bring up irrelevant personal information, the "nuts and sluts" response to call Bialek a "disturbed woman" and a "floozy," the response of reflexively blaming everyone, including accusations of sinister plots and conspiracies against him, the response of spin, deflect, obfuscate, attack, smear, dissemble, and parse.

If Cain wasn't doing his best at a Bill Clinton imitation in his resposne to this, I would be less inclined to conclude that he was acting like Clinton with these women.